The  Business  Value 


of 

Civil  Service  Reform 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

NATIONAL  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM  LEAGUE 
79  WALL  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

19  09 


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P- 

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The  Business  Value  of  Civil  Service  Reform 

Civil  service  reform  is  a  business-like  method  of 
selecting-  public  officials  and  employees.  It  secures  for 
the  government,  whether  national,  state  or  municipal, 
employees  more  capable  and  honest,  and  administration 
more  economical  and  efficient  than  under  the  spoils  sys¬ 
tem  of  appointment  for  political  reasons. 

The  purpose  of  this  article  is  to  present  from  the 
mass  of  testimony  in  favor  of  civil  service  reform  spe¬ 
cific  and  concrete  examples  of  the  efficiency,  integrity 
and  economy  secured  by  this  system. 

Ten  Per  Cent  in  Salaries  Saved 

A  conservative  estimate,  based  upon  official  reports 
of  public  officers,  indicates  as  a  result  of  the  operation 
of  the  civil  service  rules  a  net  saving  in  salaries  paid,  of 
at  least  ten  per  cent. — Fifteenth  Report  of  U.  S.  Civil 
Service  Commission ,  p.  ij . 

A  Saving  of  About  One-Half  in  Salaries 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury  Windom,  gave  it  as  his 
experience  that,  under  the  old  system,  prior  to  a  change 
of  administration  the  work  of  the  clerks  in  his  depart¬ 
ment  fell  off  nearly  a  half,  and  that  it  took  the  suc¬ 
cessors  of  those  who  were  changed  at  least  six  months 
to  learn  their  duties.  Accepting  the  average  salary  of  a 
government  clerk  as  about  $800  this  would  mean,  in 
Presidential  years  at  least,  that  nearly  half  this  salary 
was  wasted,  no  return  being  obtained  by  the  people  for 
the  amount  paid  out. — Sixth  Report  of  U.  S.  Civil  Ser¬ 
vice  Commission ,  p.  6. 

$1,400  Saved 

One  of  Boston’s  aldermen  has  a  brother  who  drew 
$2.50  a  day  as  a  provisional  inspector  of  lumber,  and 
who  did  not  inspect  any  lumber.  Eventually,  this 
brother  was  appointed  provisional  caretaker  of  horses, 

i  v\  3  C4 


and  his  wages  increased  to  $1,400  a  year.  The  civil 
service  commission  held  an  examination,  but  the  alder¬ 
man’s  brother  failed  to  obtain  a  place  on  the  eligible  list. 
It  was  thereupon  found  that  the  position  of  caretaker  of 
horses  at  $1,400  was  not  necessary,  and  no  one  was 
appointed,  a  saving  to  the  city  of  $1,400. — Good  Gov¬ 
ernment  ,  November ,  1907. 

$179,000  Saved 

In  a  speech  before  the  Detroit  Municipal  League  in 
1905,  Hon.  Joseph  W.  Errant,  President  of  the  Chicago 
Civil  Service  Commission,  gave  figures  showing  a  sav¬ 
ing  of  $179,000  in  the  management  of  one  department 
in  that  city.  In  1899,  the  cost  of  maintaining  1,801  miles 
of  water  pipe  was  $419,000,  while  in  1905  the  same  work 
cost  $240,000,  although  the  amount  of  water  piping  had 
been  increased  to  1,978  miles.  At  the  same  time,  Mr. 
Errant  gave  figures  showing  that  the  cost  of  keeping 
streets  and  alleys  clean  under  the  merit  system  had  been 
reduced  from  $19.61  per  mile  to  $12.90. — Detroit  bree 
Press.  November  14. ,  1905. 

Cost  of  Collecting  Water  Taxes  Decreased  About 

One-Third 

From  figures  given  by  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Water  Department  of  Chicago,  in  a  letter  dated  Decem¬ 
ber  31,  1904,  a  saving  under  the  merit  system  of  one- 
third  in  the  cost  of  collecting  water  taxes  in  that  city  is 
shown.  The  following  figures  show  the  cost  for  the  year 
1894,  a  year  before  the  passage  of  the  Civil  Service  Law, 
and  the  cost  for  the  year  1904,  ten  years  afterwards: 

YEARS  RECEIPTS  EXPENSES  PER  CENT 

1894  $3,010,259.92  $287,306.92  9  >4 

1904  $4,000,000.00  $260,000.00  6  ^ 

Saving  of  Twenty-Five  Per  Cent 

The  late  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Charles 
S.  Hamlin,  who  was  in  direct  charge  of  the  collection 
of  customs,  makes  the  following  statement  in  a  commu¬ 
nication  to  the  Commission: 


3 


“As  to  the  application  of  the  civil-service  rules  to 
that  branch  of  the  government  service  relating  to  cus¬ 
toms,  from  the  experience  that  I  have  had  in  the  Treas¬ 
ury  Department  during  the  past  four  years,  I  am  of  the 
opinion  that  there  has  resulted  a  saving  to  the  Govern¬ 
ment  of  at  least  25  per  cent  in  cost.  From  the  point  of 
view  of  efficiency,  I  believe  the  the  saving  to  have  been 
greater.” — Fourteenth  Report  U.  S.  Civil  Service  Com¬ 
mission,  p.  /y. 

A  Saving  of  Over  Two  Million  Dollars 

Thus  there  will  have  been  covered  back  into  the 
treasury  since  March  7,  1893,  $2,066,661.19  out  of  a  total 
amount  of  $11,179,455.45  on  hand  and  appropriated. 

That  these  great  economies  have  been  affected  with¬ 
out  in  any  way  marring  the  efficiency  of  the  department 
work  or  unduly  limiting  its  scope  is  due  in  a  very  large 
degree  to  the  application  of  civil  service  rules  both  in 
letter  and  spirit.  The  wide  extension  of  the  civil  ser¬ 
vice  classification  under  the  law  has  been  proved  by  ex¬ 
perience  to  be  not  only  a  great  help,  but  absolutely  in¬ 
dispensable  to  the  maintenance  of  an  economical  and 
efficient  administration  of  the  public  service. — Report  of 
the  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  1896. 

$390,000  Per  Year  Saved  in  One  Bureau 

The  last  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  the  Bureau 
of  Engraving  and  Printing  shows  that,  notwithstanding 
the  work  of  that  Bureau  had  increased  over  77  per  cent, 
the  force  has  only  increased  11  per  cent.  An  investi¬ 
gation  made  by  a  commission  of  Treasury  experts  into 
the  work  of  this  bureau  prior  to  the  enactment  of  the 
civil  service  law  found  the  force  largely  in  excess  of  re¬ 
quirements  for  the  service,  and  recommended  sweeping 
reductions.  In  this  report  the  following  language  is 
used: 

“The  total  decrease  is  equal  to  about  36  per  cent  of 
the  force  as  it  existed  in  April,  and  results  in  the  saving 
to  the  Treasury  of  about  $390,000  per  annum.” — Thir¬ 
teenth  Report  U  S.  Civil  Service  Commission. 


4 


A  Yearly  Saving:  of  Nearly  Three  Millions 

That  the  maintenance  of  the  Commission  is  directly 
in  the  interest  of  economy  is  clearly  shown  by  the  sta¬ 
tistics  prepared  last  year  in  connection  with  the  govern¬ 
ment  service  in  Washington,  D.  C.  In  these  statistics 
the  growth  of  the  classified  positions  was  compared  with 
the  growth  of  the  unclassified  positions,  and  it  appeared 
that  since  1883  (the  year  of  the  organization  of  the  Com¬ 
mission)  the  unclassified  positions,  which  have  been 
subject  to  political  control,  have  increased  in  number 
37  per  cent  and  in  cost  43  per  cent,  while  the  classi¬ 
fied  positions  subject  to  examinations  have  remained  at 
a  standstill,  practically  the  only  increases  in  their  num¬ 
ber  having  been  made  by  the  extensions  of  the  rules  to 
cover  positions  previously  unclassified.  Had  the  classi¬ 
fied  positions  increased  in  the  same  proportion  as  the 
unclassified  positions  increased  up  to  the  time  of  their 
classification,  an  extra  yearly  expenditure  for  additional 
salaries  in  Washington  alone  of  more  than  $3,000,000  or 
twenty  times  the  cost  of  the  maintenance  of  the  commis¬ 
sion,  would  be  required. — Fourteenth  Report  of  the  U. 
S.  Civil  Service  Commission ,  p.  ij. 

$3,000  Saved 

While  the  commission  has  no  power  to  prevent  un¬ 
necessary  appointments . provided  such  appoint¬ 

ments  are  made  according  to  civil  service  rules,  the  ex¬ 
istence  of  such  rules  makes  it  more  difficult  to  pad  the 
payrolls . 

The  case  involving  the  appointment  of  John  J. 
Douglas  to  the  position  of  Assistant  Superintendent  of 
the  Ferry  Division  of  the  Street  Department  of  Boston 
was  decided  by  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court,  the  appoint¬ 
ment  being  held  to  be  in  violation  of  the  civil  service 
law. 

The  commission  held  a  competitive  examination  on 
March  29,  1907,  to  establish  a  list  of  eligibles  for  the 
position.  No  appointment  was  made,  however,  to  fill 
the  place,  and  it  has  remained  vacant. 

This  result  constitutes  a  pertinent  illustration  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  application  of  the  merit  system 


5 

tends  toward  economy  in  city  administration . The 

net  saving  to  the  city  of  Boston  in  this  case  is  $3,000 — 
the  salary  of  the  deposed  Assistant  Superintendent. — 
Twenty- fourth  Report  of  Massachusetts  Civil  Service 
Commission. 


$9,600  Saved  in  One  Year 

The  new  warehouse  of  the  Department  of  Elections, 
under  construction  at  Eighteenth  and  Division  Streets, 
is  a  monument  to  the  efficiency  of  civil  service  reform. 
It  is  being  built  out  of  the  savings  of  an  office  that  was 
once  one  of  the  most  wasteful  and  extravagant  in  the 
city  government,  but  which  has  become  through  the 
operation  of  the  merit  system  one  of  the  most  efficient 
and  economical. 

There  has  long  been  a  necessity  for  some  sort  of  safe 
storage  for  the  election  booths  in  use  in  the  city.  At  pres¬ 
ent  they  are  stored  in  an  inflammable  wooden  structure 
surrounded  by  furniture  factories,  and  if  they  were  to 
take  fire  just  before  an  election  the  city  would  not  only 
lose  the  $30,000  they  represent  in  money  value,  but  the 
whole  election  machinery  would  be  deranged  and  thrown 
into  hopeless  confusion.  The  warehouse  above  will  be 
built  of  brick,  with  but  few  doors  and  windows,  will  be 
practically  fireproof,  and  will  be  amply  large  enough  to 
accommodate  the  million  or  so  feet  of  lumber  of  which 
the  booths  consist. 

The  cost  will  be  about  $9,600.  The  entire  sum  was 
saved  out  of  the  appropriation  for  the  department  of 
elections  last  year,  and  it  is  due  to  operation  of  the 
merit  system  in  the  office  of  Registrar  Thomas  J.  Walsh, 
that  the  saving  was  made  possible.  Since  1900  the 
department  has  lived  within  the  appropriations  and  has 
had  a  small  surplus  at  the  end  of  each  year,  a  condition 
unknown  under  the  Consolidation  Act.  Before  the 
adoption  of  civil  service  reform,  and  when  elections  were 
held  once  in  two  years,  the  expenses  of  the  Department 
of  Elections  averaged  $200,000  a  year,  and  have  been 
known  to  reach  $290,000.  Under  the  charter  the  cost 
has  been  reduced  to  an  average  of  $113,000  a  year,  and 
we  now  have  from  two  to  four  elections  annually. 

It  must  be  gratifying  to  taxpayers  to  know  that  in  at 


6 


least  one  municipal  department  it  has  been  possible  to 
make  a  permanent  improvement  out  of  current  revenue. 

That  it  has  been  possible  is  entirely  due  to  Mr.  Walsh’s 
economical  administration  of  his  office  on  merit  system 
principles. — Merchants'  Association  Review ,  San  Fran¬ 
cisco ,  Cal.,  September  1903. 

Over  Two  Million  Dollars  and  a  Year's  Time  Would 
Have  Been  Saved  Under  The  Merit  System 

In  1896  (Senate  Document  No.  5,  Fifty-fourth  Con¬ 
gress)  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  Director  of  the  Census, 
stated : 

‘  ‘The  absolute  necessity  of  bringing  the  whole  census 
force  into  the  classified  service,  in  accordance  with  the 
act  of  January  16,  1883,  and  the  amendments  thereto 
and  rules  thereunder,  seems  to  me  perfectly  apparent. 

Had  this  been  the  rule  in  the  Eleventh  Census  there 
would  have  been,  in  my  opinion,  a  saving  of  at  least 
$2,000,000  and  more  than  a  year’s  time.” 

Subsequently  in  a  letter  to  Senator  Lodge  (Congres¬ 
sional  Record,  December  15,  1907)  he  compared  the 
cost  of  similar  work  in  the  Department  of  Labor,  under 
civil  service  rules,  with  the  cost  of  taking  the  census, 
and  stated: 

“Bringing  the  comparison  to  a  concrete  and  quantita¬ 
tive  statement,  it  is  seen  that  had  the  cost  of  preparing 
the  matter  by  the  Eleventh  Census  Office  been  at  the 
same  rate  per  1,000  nonpareil  ems  as  was  the  cost  of 
preparing  like  matter  in  the  Department  of  Labor,  the 
total  cost  under  the  first  comparison — that  is,  exclusive 
of  printing,  engraving  and  binding — would  have  been 
$3,595,432.68,  instead  of  $10,016,677.68,  a  saving  of 
$6,421,245,  while  under  the  second  comparison,  that  ex¬ 
cluding  the  cost  of  the  field  force  in  collecting  the  mate¬ 
rial  as  well  as  that  of  printing,  engraving  and  binding, 
it  would  have  been  $2,298,821.94,  instead  of  $5,670,- 
847.15,  a  saving  of  $3,372,025.21. 

“The  above  statements  more  than  justify  the  opin¬ 
ion  which  I  expressed  in  the  report  on  a  plan  for  a  per¬ 
manent  census  service,  for  instead  of  an  extra  cost  of 
$2,000,000,  to  which  I  guardedly  limited  myself,  it  is  0 


7 


apparent  that  under  the  first  comparison  there  was  an 
extra  cost  of  $6,421,245,  and  under  the  second  compari¬ 
son  of  $3,372,025.  The  magnitude  of  the  census  work, 
the  lack  of  time  for  preparation,  the  temporary  nature 
of  the  force,  etc.,  may  properly,  and  perhaps  sufficiently 
account  for  the  extraordinary  expense  above  the 
$2,000,000,  wffiich  I  have  attributed  to  the  absence  of 
civil-service  rules.” 

Increase  of  37  Per  Gent  m  Work 
Decrease  of  20  Per  Cent  in  Cost 

From  a  letter  of  H.  G.  Pearson,  Postmaster,  City  of 
New  York,  January  10,  1889: 

“Methods  involving  such  competitive  tests  have,  to 
a  greater  or  less  extent,  obtained  at  this  office  since 
1872 . A  further  result  of  the  re¬ 

formed  system  of  appointment  has  been  in  the  direction 

of  economy . as  shown  by  the  fact 

that  while  in  one  of  its  largest  departments  (mailing  and 
distribution)  the  bulk  of  mail  matter  handled  had  in¬ 
creased  in  1882  37.30  per  cent  over  that  handled  in  1874, 
the  cost  of  the  service  required  in  handling  it  was  20 
per  cent  less.  ...  In  the  money  order  department  the 
records  show  that  for  the  past  nine  years  there  has  been 
an  increase  in  the  number  of  orders  issued,  paid,  etc., 
of  110  per  cent;  and  in  the  amount  of  money  handled 
of  94  per  cent,  while  the  increase  in  the  cost  of  clerical 
service  required  for  the  performance  of  the  business  has 
been  but  18  per  cent.” — First  Report  N.  Y.  State  Civil 
Service  Commission,  p.  2jo. 

Reduction  in  Force:  Increase  in  Work 

Since  March  7,  1893,  the  classified  service  has  been 
extended  until  it  includes  every  important  permanent 
position  in  the  United  States  Department  of  Agri¬ 
culture.  Reports  from  chiefs  of  bureaus  and  divisions 
since  this  clasification  are  unanimous  in  praising  the 
enhanced  value  of  the  service  rendered  by  their  assist¬ 
ants  and  employees.  In  efficiency  and  economy  the 
classification  has  very  visibly  improved  the  work. 


Decrease  of  280  Employees  -  Increased  Work 

March  4,  1893,  there  were  2,497  men  and  women 
upon  the  payrolls  of  this  department.  But  on  Novem¬ 
ber  1,  1896,  there  were  only  2,217  on  the  rolls  ;  that  is 
— notwithstanding  an  increased  amount  of  work — there 
had  been  a  reduction  in  the  force  of  280. 

Decrease  of  23  Employees — Work  Trebled 

The  effect  of  placing  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry 
within  the  classified  service  has  been  very  marked  in 
increasing  its  efficiency  and  improving  its  discipline. 
This  is  particularly  apparent  with  the  employees  sta¬ 
tioned  at  other  cities  than  Washington.  The  decreased 
expense  of  the  inspection  work  is  largely  due  to  this  im¬ 
provement  in  the  force . On  March  4, 

1893,  there  were  781  persons  employed  by  this  Bureau, 
but  on  November  1,  1896,  there  are  only  758,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  fact  that  the  work  has  more  than  trebled. 
— Report  of  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture ,  1896. 

Increased  Effiency :  Fewer  Employees 

This  meteorological  service  has  developed  since 
1870  until  it  is  the  largest  in  the  world.  We  have  in 
this  service,  I  can  fairly  say,  a  merit  system  that  knows 
no  favorites.  I  was  an  employee  of  the  old  federal  ser¬ 
vice  a  third  of  a  century  ago,  when  there  was  no  civil 
service,  and  when,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  corruption 
was  rampant  in  almost  every  branch  of  the  public  ser¬ 
vice.  A  man  could  sell  nothing  to  the  government 
from  which  somebody  did  not  get  a  rake-off,  all  the  way 
from  the  receiving  clerk  up — very  high  up,  sometimes. 
Furthermore,  at  that  time  for  every  position  there  were 
several  unnecessary  men  and  probably  not  more  than 
one  out  of  ten  competent  to  perform  his  duties.  This 
was  not  the  fault  of  the  men,  it  was  not  the  fault  of  the 
politician,  it  was  not  the  fault  of  executive  officers;  it 
was  the  fault  of  the  system  and,  therefore,  of  the  whole 
American  people. 

All  of  that  is  changed  to-day;  the  appointing  officer, 
the  chief  of  a  bureau,  the  secretary  of  a  department,  has 
no  incentive  to  increase  his  force  beyond  that  which  he 


9 


needs  to  perform  the  public  duty.  Why?  Because  he 
cannot  put  his  friends  into  office.  The  legislator  has  no 
incentive  to  appropriate  more  public  money  than  is 
needed  for  public  employees,  because  he  cannot  control 
who  shall  be  appointed,  and  so,  as  a  result,  I  believe 
during  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  application  of  the  civil 
service  law,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  public 
business  increased  several  fold,  the  number  of  federal 
employees  actually  decreased. 

I  can  give  you  an  illustration  in  my  own  bureau. 
The  law  was  just  beginning  to  come  into  effect — it  was 
not  wholly  in  effect  over  all  places — when  I  came  into 
the  chiefshipof  that  bureau.  I  have  to-day  twelve  fewer 
employees  at  the  central  office  at  Washington  than  I 
had  when  I  went  there  fourteen  years  ago.  That  is  not 
due  to  any  virtue  of  my  own,  it  is  due  to  the  application 
of  the  correct  principle.  In  that  time  no  person  dis¬ 
missed  for  cause — we  have  always  tried  to  be  sure  of 
our  cause — has  ever  been  reinstated  in  the  public  ser¬ 
vice.  There  is  absolutely  no  patronage  in  the  weather 
service  for  any  senator  or  representative  or  any  one  else, 
and  I  do  not  believe  that  either  myself  or  the  other 
administrators  of  the  weather  service  have  a  single 
enemv  in  either  hall  of  Congress.  We  have  no  difficulty 
in  getting  the  necessary  money  to  run  the  service.  If  an 
executive  officer,  either  in  your  municipality  or  in  your 
state  or  in  your  federal  service,  will  honestly  perform 
his  duties,  fearlessly  selecting  men  only  when  they  are 
needed,  advancing  those  only  who  have  merit,  I  venture 
to  say  that  he  will  get  the  support  of  the  legis¬ 
lators. — Extract  from  an  address  by  Prof.  Willis  L. 
Moore ,  Chief  of  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau,  be¬ 
fore  the  City  Club  of  Chicago  on  February  13th,  1909, 
published  in  the  City  Club  Bulletin  for  March  3d, 
1909. 

Efficiency  Increased  Over  Three-Fold 

The  Railway  Mail  Service  was  brought  into  the  clas¬ 
sified  service  in  1889.  In  his  annual  report  for  1897  the 
General  Superintendent  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service 
gives  a  table  (printed  below)  showing  the  increase  in 
efficiency  of  that  service  during  the  ten  years.  The 


i 


IO 

direct  result  of  the  spoils  system  is  seen  in  the  increase  in 
errors  in  1890  concerning  which  the  Postmaster  General 
in  his  report  for  1896  says:  “It  will  be  recalled  that 
wholesale  discharges  of  postal  clerks  were  made  on 
political  grounds  near  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  1889, 
the  effect  of  which  appears  in  an  increase  of  nearly 
1,000,000  errors  in  1890  and  the  large  falling  off  in  the 
number,  correct  to  each  error.” 


Year 

Pieces  of 
mail  matter 
distributed 

Errors  in 
distribu¬ 
tion 

Per  cent 

Pieces 

ended 

June 

30— 

In¬ 

crease 

De¬ 

crease 

correct 

to  each 

error 

1888.. 
1889. . 

6,528,772,060 
7,026  837,130 

1,765,821 

1,777,295 

.66 

3,694 

3,954 

1890.. 

7,847,723,600 

2,769,245 

55.81 

2,834 

1891. . 

8,546,370,090 

2,005,973 

27.56 

4,261 

1892. . 

9,227,816,090 

1,658,457 

17.32 

5,564 

1893. . 

9,772,075,810 

1,367,880 

17.52 

7,144 

1894. . 

10,033,973,790 

1,281,094 

6.34 

7,831 

1895. . 

10,377,875,040 

1,166,682 

9 

8,894 

1896. . 

11,166.323,240 

1,134,411 

2.76 

9,843 

1897. . 

11,571,540,680 

967,538 

14.71 

11,960 

Per  cent 


In¬ 

crease 

De¬ 

crease 

*  7.04 

. 

28.33 

30.35 

30.58 

28.40 

9.62 

•  .  •  •  • 

13.57 

-10.67 

21.51 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  percentage  of  errors  in  the 
distribution  of  mail  matter  decreased  under  the  opera¬ 
tion  of  the  civil  service  rules  from  1  in  3,694,  to  1  in 
11,960. 

In  his  report  for  1897  the  General  Superintendent 
of  the  Railway  Mail  Service  states  that  during 
these  10  years  the  amount  of  mail  matter  handled  has 
increased  77.2  per  cent.,  but  that  the  increase  in  force 
has  been  only  48.6  per  cent. 


Improved  Character  of  Appointees 

The  civil-service  laws  and  regulations  as  applied  to 
the  Railway  Mail  Service,  accomplishes  all  the  most 
sanguine  expected.  The  eligibles  for  appointment  who 
have  been  certified  and  selected  excel  in  the  funda¬ 
mental  qualities,  such  as  suitable  age,  good  physical 
condition  and  habits,  activity  and  retentiveness  of 


memory,  and  prospective  growth  and  length  of  useful 
service. 

Having  such  desirable  undeveloped  material  to  work 
upon,  the  management  experiences  less  difficulty  in 
molding  it  into  well-disciplined,  industrious,  thoughtful, 
efficient  clerks.  A  much  larger  per  cent  of  the  proba¬ 
tioners  succeed  in  earning  permanent  appointment,  and, 
under  the  system  of  development  which  obtains  in  the 
service,  they  continue  to  improve  during  their  connec¬ 
tion  with  it,  and  as  opportunities  occur,  are  advanced  in 
class  according  to  their  merits.  In  the  judgment  of  this 
office  the  present  efficiency  could  not  have  been  obtained 
under  any  other  method — Report  of  the  General  Super¬ 
intendent  of  Railivay  Mail  Service ,  1894.. 

No  Padding  of  Payrolls  Around  Elections 

There  had  formerly  been  a  great  abuse  in  the  way  of 
employment  of  labor  in  the  navy  yards  just  before  elec¬ 
tion,  and  a  law  was  passed  prohibiting  such  employ¬ 
ment  except  in  case  of  urgency.  The  law  accomplished 
nothing.  Urgency  was  always  declared.  In  the  Pres¬ 
idential  election  of  1888  the  old  system  of  appointment 
of  laborers  for  political  reasons  obtained.  On  Septem¬ 
ber  1  of  that  year  there  were  fourteen  hundred  and  odd 
employees  in  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard.  On  November 
1  there  were  2,500.  By  December  1  the  number  had 
shrunk  again  to  less  than  1,400.  Over  1,000  men  were 
employed  during  the  two  months  before  election,  and 
were  discharged  inside  of  a  month  after  election.  That 
was  in  1888. 

During  the  course  of  the  next  Presidential  term  the 
service  was  practically  classified,  the  registration  system 
was  established,  and  on  September  1,  1892,  2,200  were 
employed.  On  November  1  there  were  2,052  men.  In¬ 
stead  of  1,000  more,  150  less  were  employed.  On  De¬ 
cember  1  the  same  number  were  still  employed. — Assist¬ 
ant  Secretary  of  the  Navy ,  Roosevelt,  in  testimony  be¬ 
fore  the  Senate  Committee  on  Civil  Service,  February  ir 


National  Civil  Service  Reform  League 

PRESIDENT: 


CHARLES  W.  ELIOT. 


VICE-PRESIDENTS : 


EDWIN  A.  ALDERMAN, 
JOSEPH  H.  CHOATE, 
HARRY  A.  GARFIELD, 
GEORGE  GRAY, 

ARTHUR  T.  HADLEY, 
HENRY  CHARLES  LEA, 


SETH  LOW, 

FRANKLIN  MACVEAGH, 
GEORGE  A.  POPE, 

P.  J.  RYAN,  D.  D., 
MOORFIELD  STOREY, 
THOMAS  N.  STRONG, 
HERBERT  WELSH. 


SECRETARY:  TREASURER : 

ELLIOT  H.  GOODWIN.  A.  S.  FRISSELL. 

ASST  SEC’YS: 

ALBERT  DE  ROODE. 

CHARLES  B.  MARBLE. 

COUNCIL: 

RICHARD  HENRY  DANA,  Chairman. 


WILLIAM  A.  AIKEN, 

FREDERIC  ALMY, 

ARTHUR  H.  BROOKS, 

CHARLES  C.  BURLINGHAM, 
GEORGE  BURNHAM,  JR., 

SILAS  W.  BURT, 

JOHN  A.  BUTLER, 

EDWARD  CARY, 

W.  C.  COFFIN, 

EVERETT  COLBY, 

CHARLES  COLLINS, 

WILLIAM  E.  CUSHING, 
NATHANIEL  HENCHMAN  DAVIS, 
HORACE  E.  DEMING, 

ROBERT  G.  DODGE, 

JOHN  JOY  EDSON, 

JOHN  A.  FAIRLIE, 

HENRY  W.  FARNAM, 

CYRUS  D.  FOSS,  JR., 

WILLIAM  DUDLEY  FOULKE, 
RICHARD  WATSON  GILDER, 
CHARLES  NOBLE  GREGORY, 
HENRY  W.  HARDON, 

JOHN  PHILIP  HILL, 

ROBERT  D.  JENKS, 

WILLIAM  V.  KELLEN, 


JOHN  F.  LEE, 

WILLIAM  G.  LOW, 

GEORGE  MCANENY, 

HENRY  L.  MCCUNE, 

HARRY  J.  MILLIGAN, 

WILLIAM  B.  MOULTON 
SAMUEL  Y.  NASH, 

H.  O.  REIK, 

SAMUEL  H.  ORDWAY, 

JOHN  READ, 

CHARLES  RICHARDSON 
HENRY  A.  RICHMOND, 
EDWARD  M.  SHEPARD, 
NELSON  S.  SPENCER, 

LUCIUS  B.  SWIFT, 

W.  J.  TREMBATH, 

HENRY  VAN  KLEECK, 

W.  W.  VAUGHAN, 

EVERETT  P.  WHEELER, 
CHARLES  B.  WILBY, 

ANSLEY  WILCOX, 

C.  D.  WILLARD, 

FREDERICK  C.  WINKLER, 

R.  FRANCIS  WOOD, 

CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF, 
MORRILL  WYMAN,  JR. 


Offices  of  the  League, 

No.  79  Wall  St.,  NewYork 


